universal collisions book 7
by orkoad2000
Summary: Deal with the phantom Johnny is still with the Xmen when he runs into the Phantom ranger, but skelator shows up to to cause trouble for an injured Johnny.


Universal Collisions  
Deal With the Phantom  
By John Proft

Disclaimer: Based on characters and situations created and/or owned by Marvel Comics, Mattel Toys, and Saban Entertainment.

Fred, the enormous boy who stomped back and forth in the living room of what was once the Brotherhood, didn't know where to go. The same thoughts ran threw the minds of his teammate's, Peitro, Lance, and Wanda. That's when there was a knock at the door, or what was left of it. Peitro was at the door before anyone could blink, and standing behind it was a man the didn't know, but beside him was someone they did.  
"Proffesor X?" Petiro asked in shock. "What do you want you old goat?" Peitro asked angrily.  
"I knew this would be hard." The stranger whispered to himself.  
"What's that pal?" Lance asked as he and Fred walked over to join Peitro.  
"I said this would be hard." the man said again, at normal volume this time.  
"And who are you?" Fred asked in a sluggish sounding voice.  
"My name is Johnny Springs, and I'm here to offer you guys a deal." Peitro lit up.  
"You, your the guy who trashed my dad's plans a few weeks ago." Peitro said, not really mentioning weather he cared or not.  
"You must be tough then, so what can you do?" Fred asked. Johnny had hoped that wouldn't have come up.  
"Well, nothing, I'm a normal human being." The men looked at each other, then all held a wicked smile.  
"Before you attack do you at least want to hear my proposition?" Johnny asked, not showing the least amount of fear.  
"Alright," Lance said genuinely. "What have you got."  
"I've wanted to invite you all to join the X-men." The three of them were shocked. "But first the three of you need to learn how to treat people, have you guys ever wondered why you don't have any friends?" The three guys looked at each other in confusion.  
"Cause we're mutants." Fred said without understanding the question.  
"That's why some may not like you, but others won't let that stop a friendship. it's because you don't treat people how you would like to be treated, I can help you and it will take time, but if your all patient, and willing to learn, than I'm willing to help you all." the three guys looked at each other.  
"I'll go." A voice said from behind them. The three mutant outcasts turned to see Wanda walking down the stairs. "I hate to admit it but things just ain't the same around here without Toads constant frustrations."  
"YES" Johnny said in his mind.  
"Ok, anyone else?" the guys looked at each other again.  
"I'll do it." Fred said quietly. He looked down at his two friends. "I'm tired of bein' made fun of, maybe these guys can help." Lance and Peitro looked at each other.  
"I'll go to." Lance said.  
"You ain't convincing me." Peitro said almost angrily.  
"That is your choice Peitro, but we hope you'll change your mind, we will always be there if you change your mind." Xavier said as he turned and started to wheel away, Lance, Fred and Wanda behind him.  
"But we'll also be there if you decide cause trouble." Johnny said evenly as he followed the Professor, leaving the son of Magneto alone, once again.

The students greeted the former members of the Brotherhood with cautious looks, given past experience, but the three new recruits seemed to be doing well. A week and past and except for the occasional comment or dirty glance, the team seemed to be growing. Gambit had even joined the group since the battle where Johnny was injured. The new school year was starting and Johnny was seeing the kids off to class.  
"Johnnithan, what are you doing?" Beast asked with a worried look on his face.  
"Just sayin' bye to the guys, why?" Johnny asked.  
"You have classes too." The words seemed to punch Johnny in the gut.  
"WHAT!"  
"In order to keep you enrolled here, you have to have a collage degree, or be enrolled in a neighboring high school, You're entering Bayville High as a senior, but you still have to go to classes for the last year." Johnny wanted to curl up and die, high school, he was so happy to be out of there the first time around, but to return there would be hard but it would have to happen. Johnny nodded and walked out the door.  
"But before you go..." Beast said, handing Johnny a set of keys.  
"What's this?" Johnny asked.  
"Something the Professor found after talking to that guy Zodack." Johnny's eyes widened, not sure if he should get his hopes up, but when he raced out the door, and into the institute's garage, he saw it.  
"The Ladybug!" Johnny said as he hopped into the car, revved the engine and sped off to class, greeting his friendly computer yet again.

The senior high student called Duncan was ready for yet another prank. This time he and his friends from the football team were setting up a bucket of water over a door that was ajar, hoping Talanski or another mutant would un knowingly walk under it, but when Johnny walked under it, and got hit with a massive splash of cold water from above, and then the bucket on his head. Johnny groaned as he yanked the bucket off his head. Duncan ran over to him, genuinely apologetic.  
"Hey I'm sorry, man. That was meant for a mutie." Johnny looked up at Duncan, a cold angry stair piercing Duncan's.  
"A what?"  
"A mutie, a mutant." Johnny slammed the bucket into Duncan's hands.  
"Don't apologize to me &, read something about racism, then decide who you should apologize to." Johnny said as he started walking down the school hall.  
"What, you a mutie or something?" Duncan asked from a few feet away.  
"No, just don't like racist's." Johnny said without looking back.

A few classes had come and gone, and Johnny found himself walking towards gym class with Rogue and Kurt. The three of them noticed Scott and Jean walk past. They waved the their three friends, who all waved back, but once the two had walked out of view, Johnny and Rogue sighed at the same time.  
"Vat is it?" Kurt asked.  
"I just...I don't know." Rogue said first.  
"You got the relationship problem too?" Johnny asked.  
"Yah, ah suppose so. You ever feel like you'll never find the one you're supposed to be with?"  
"Yeah, sometimes, lately I keep finding a girl, then have to leave her, thanks to that $& Zodack." Johnny said as he clenched his fist without noticing it.  
"I caught some of that when I touched you last month, from what I saw, yah, he didn't have a right to do what he did, but it also seems like he didn't have a choice." Johnny wanted to argue about it, but knew she was right, and that was the fact that always angered him the most. Toad groaned as he walked out of history after the bell rang. He always hated school, and the Professor making him go back wasn't the easiest thing to hear, but this time he was going to do things right. Looking back, he had hated what he had become before. What he had hated most about the brotherhood, was that everyone looked out only for themselves, not for one another, like the X-men did.  
"Hey Telanski."a voice Toad knew too well. He turned anyway and waved like nothing had happened.  
"Hey Duncan." Toad replied with a wave and a far away look.  
"What's the matter frog boy," Duncan said as he shoved him to the ground. "No cheery hello for your old buddy Duncan?" the football player asked as he held his fist in his hand. Toad groaned. He knew this was going to happen, but instead of fight back, he hoped some model student would come to his aid. Toad looked around to see only the occasional person snicker or call some mutant related put down as they passed by. Toad just lay there, waiting for the pounding to begin.  
"There a problem here?" a voice asked, too far for Toad to see, from the other end of the hall.  
"No, just beatin' down a mutant punk, you know how it is." Duncan replied.  
"NO, I'm afraid I don't know how it is, why don't you enlighten me." The voice said. It was a boy, about Toad's age, he couldn't see him, but the voice was enough to get that.  
"Well, it's like this, mutants aren't welcome here, but we cant kick them out, so we're gonna have to scare them out." Duncan said as he leaned in closer to Toad, so he also heard the message.  
"Well that's the real trick isn't it, why not try to befriend the mutants, why would it be so bad to have them as allies instead of enemies?" The voice asked.  
"What, you mean as weapons?" Duncan asked, not understanding the question.  
"No, I mean like not shunning them for just being different, not treating them like sh just because they were born with this special gift." Duncan kicked toad to the side.  
"Your starting to sound like a mutant yourself." Duncan said accusingly. As if on cue, the hallway cleared, preparing for a fight.  
"No I'm human, and I'm not going to lie about it either, I wouldn't want to be a mutant, but only because of all the prejidous I'd be put under." The boy said as he prepared for a battle, by standing in a karate fighting stance. Toad was able to look up now and saw a kid his age, with black hair and tan skin. Suddenly the bell rang, and everyone raced off to their late classes, except for the stranger, Toad and Duncan.  
"Ah your not worth it you mutant lover." he said as he grabbed his book bag and walked off. The stranger raced over to Toad and helped him up.  
"Hey, names Carlos, are you ok?" the kid asked.  
"Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me." Toad said as he stood up.  
"Glad to here it, do me a favor, avoid that guy." Toad smiled and nodded, happy to find a new friend for the first time in a long time. Carlos waved as he turned and headed to class.  
"Hey, a bunch of us are going to hang out at the bowling alley tonight, you want to come?" Toad asked.  
"Sure, do you mind if I bring a couple friends?" Toad wanted to say no, he was afraid of what his afraid of what his friends would think of him, but he was threw hiding from what he was afraid of too.  
"The more the merrier."

The hours past well enough and Johnny, along with Peter, Rogue and Angela, drove threw the deserted streets towards the mansion when there was a massive explosion. Johnny floored the break and looked around.  
"There." Rogue said as she pointed to the smoke that rose from the valley down below the cliff a few yards past the side the street. Johnny groaned and looked at his three companions in the car.  
"Brace yourselves." He said as he pulled a small lever from beneath the steering column, forcing the wings to extend, Johnny drove the car as far back as he could, then floored the gas pedal, sending the car over the edge, forcing his three friends to scream in fear, until they noticed that they still hung, gliding in mid air. Johnny just smiled.  
"Sure beats the X-jet huh." Johnny joked and he piloted the ship towards the source to the massive column of billowing smoke.

Professor Xavier was busy at work, trying to find a source of the massive rumbling that seemed to be coming from somewhere between the institute and the Bayville school. Beast raced in after hearing the massive explosion first hand.  
"What's going on Charles?" Beast asked.  
"I don't know what it is hank but I can tell you what it isn't. It wasn't lance testing his powers, nor was it juggernaut, in fact I can't seen to find any mutant involvement in association with it." the Professor said as he stared at the flashing view screen in front of him.

Johnny and the others gasped as they flew over what appeared to be a trashed space ship that had crashed in the empty valley. Johnny quickly landed the Ladybug and the four friends crawled out.  
"Ok guys, look for survivors." Johnny said as he watched everyone scatter, he noticed Peter and Angela using there powers to do so and that worried him a little, but he knew secret's were not the issue, life was. If there were survivors, they were bound to be hurt, Johnny quickly ran over to the ship and looked around it. he was about to give up, when he heard a moaning from near the shattered cockpit. Johnny leapt over and pulled an armor clad man out of the cock pit. The man's armor had been cracked in several placed and wires seemed to hang from several cracks. Johnny looked into the helmet, trying to find a place to take it off, but couldn't find any.  
"Please...I need something small, something personal of yours." Johnny didn't know what to do, without thinking he searched himself and found a small jewel, given to him by a young girl he had met for five minutes, then the girl had disappeared, it was a small jewel, wrapped in a decretive metal. The wounded, armored man held out his hand and grasped the jewel, then a red light flashed from within his fist. Then the man's hand fell, and the jewel was now a red gem Johnny looked at it for a moment, then the man disappeared from his arms, as if he was never there, the ship wreckage followed him into nothingness. Peter, Rogue and Angela raced over to him, all in shock.  
"What happened?" Angelica asked. Johnny stood up, his face unreadable.  
"I don't know, we'd better get back to the institute and tell the Prof what we've seen here." he said as he walked back to the Volkswagen, leaving his three friends looking at one another in confusion.  
"Well, like it or not, he's right, we'd better get back before someone says were they saw a flying car land." Peter said as he walked over to the care, Angelica and Rogue close behind.

Logan was glad to finally get a break. School had reopened after the summer break, so he was back on the road, the motorcycle roared as he pulled into a small corner store somewhere off the Florida coast. As leaned off his motorcycle and neared the entrance to the store's door, he could smell something, something not normal. he gave a short growl, and three razor sharp blade's sniped out from the back of either hand. He crouched, trying to find the source of the odor. He looked up, and there it was, some sort of green scaled creature, with a long leathery tail, and wearing what seemed to be a shredded tank top and Jeans, and a main of long red hair dangling down in a clearly uncombed way. For a moment Wolverine stood there, stunned. Then when the creature leapt, Wolverine leapt backwards, claws at the ready, but somewhere in the back of Wolverine's head told him there was more to this ... this she-lizard than met the eye. Just then, Logan was hit from behind, Logan winced and felt the claw marks on his back. He turned and saw a second green creature, but this one was furry, with long wide pointed ears and a demented smile on his face.  
"Thank you mutant, you may go now." Wolverine howled in rage as he prepared to strike, but before he could, he was blindsided by the she-lizards tail, and everything went blank.

Johnny paced back in forth inside forges abandoned lab. When he first stumbled into this place he had hoped to make an alternate command center out of it incase something happened at the institute, but it had quickly become his thinking spot. He just stared at the red jewel that he held in his hand.  
"So the Phantom Ranger had finally paid you a visit." A voice said aloud. Johnny looked up and saw Zodack standing in front of the double doors that made up the rooms exit.  
"Phantom...Ranger?" Johnny asked.  
"Yes, since you left your reality there have been three incarnations of your famed group, the Power Rangers, and there are many to come, after Mighty Morphin, there was Zeo, and now a new team has been formed as the Turbo Power Rangers, the Phantom Ranger was a friend of them, but obviously is no longer able to aid them." Johnny looked down at the jewel again, which now started to glow in is hands. Suddenly there was a rumble from outside. Zodack frowned without looking back.  
"I must go, you will know what to do." Zodack said as he vanished in a flash of light. Johnny quickly raced out of the hidden lab and doubled back when he saw them. They were tall, at least fifteen feet tall, and all seven of them had a familiar purple symbol on their chest's. Johnny ran back into the lab.  
"Mutants, Power Rangers, and Deceptions, oh my." he half joked as he remembered the jewel in his hand, then remembered the Invisible Ranger, half dead in his arms, and wondered if he had the same power. He lifter the jewel to the sky and cried out, "PHANTOM RANGER POWER!"

Peter Parker sat perched on one of Bayville's many smaller skyscrapers, looking back at the mistakes of his past. Aunt May was gone now, and he never even knew the hole story, all he knew was that Mary Jane did know and she decided to just walk away, Peter had gone so far as to tell her the truth about who he was and she slapped him in the face for it, literally. Peter just sighed at the thoughts, there was nothing he could do to fix things now. He knew he should be in costume while web swinging, but just felt that Spider-man should be dead to him, at least for tonight.  
"Penny for your thoughts." A voice said from behind him. Peter turned to see Angelica Jones fly down, engulfed in a light blanket of flames, which disappeared the moment she touched the rooftop.  
"Just thinkin'." Peter said as Angelica sat down and wrapped her arms around Peter.  
"Your thinkin' about her again aren't you?" She replied in a gentle tone.  
"She's dead and I don't even know why." Peter said angrily.  
"I'm not talking about your Aunt." Peter was silent for a moment, then was about to speak when he felt a buzzing in his pants pocket. He reached in and pulled out his cell phone.  
"Hello?" Peter said wearily.  
"Parker, I need you and your team in Florida now." Peter recognized the voice, but it took him a moment to place it.  
"Sure Logan, but what's this all about?" Peter asked.  
"Lot of characters in green, I didn't get a good look at one of them, but the other was some kind of lizard." The words hit Peter like a blow to the face.  
"On our way." Peter said quickly as he pressed the end button and slipped the phone back into his pocket.  
"Get Bobby and meet me at the airport, and tell the Prof. that we need three round trip tickets to Florida." Angela nodded and flew off, out of view in moments. Peter stood up and looked out at the city below, deeper in thought.  
"Dr. Conners, what have you done?"

The Phantom Ranger raced out of the small abandoned lab, to find an empty field. The sun was about to go down and people were going to wonder where he was. Johnny groaned as he walked back into the lab and leaned back against the rear wall. Then he noticed the small flap on the arm plate of his armor. He flipped it up to see a weapons list and a small tracking system. Johnny didn't know how to use it, but was willing to try anything.  
"Track deceptions." Johnny said, expecting nothing to work. Seven red dot's blinking over a map of the area was the answer he hoped for but didn't expect. Then he noticed a sentence scrolling across the bottom of the map, it read, "Four signals out of range." Johnny groaned.  
"Alert me quietly when they cause trouble, Phantom Ranger power down." the massive armor faded away, but a small black wrist watch appeared on his right wrist. Johnny chuckled. "I wonder if I should apply for a super hero license?"

Toad felt nervous as he walked into the Bayville bowling alley along with Scott, Jean, Kitty, Lance and the woman he never stopped thinking about, Wanda, but he had long since given up on trying to get together with her. He sighed as he silently slipped away from his friends and walked over to the small bar in the corner.  
"Hey froggy, what can I get you?" Jim, the bartender asked. Jim had been Toad;s only friend since he found out what he was, and it was nice to find a friendly face once and awhile.  
"Hey Jimmy, how's about the usual." Toad said as he hopped over to an empty bar stool.  
"So is that that scarlet witch you told me you've had your eye on?" Jim asked as he began pouring a soda. Toad glanced over to Wanda, who was attempting to look like she didn't care that she was doing terrible at bowling.  
"Um, yeah, but I kinda gave up on that." Toad said as he took a sip of the soda.  
"That's to bad buddy, from what I heard you were makin' good progress." Toad smiled for a moment, then shook the thought aside.  
"Naa, just forget it Jim, hey anything new in the superhero world?" Toad asked, knowing Jim was a fan of all sorts of vigilantes and hero's in the news.  
"Just little bit's on them Power Rangers, I hear they're in Bayville." Toad's eyes lit up, but quickly relaxed them.  
"That's all we need, more super people." he said, pretending to be angry about it.  
"There are those new kids from Angel Grove, think they're mutants too?" Jim asked as he motioned towards the door. Toad turned to see Carlos and four others. Two girls and two guys. Toad waved, but made no other movement to go and join them.  
"Come on froggy, go have fun." Toad thought for a moment, then looked up to Jim and smiled, then hopped over to them. 

The night went off well considering the town's view on mutants, and when the students of Xavier's institute returned to the mansion, Toad pulled Lance aside.  
"Toad, what are you doing?" Lance asked angrily.  
"Lance, buddy, I need your help." Lance looked down at Toad and saw his weary, helpless face, like the face of a man in need of help.  
"What is it?" he asked.  
"It's Wanda, I...I think I love her, I know I joke around about it, but I think I really love her." Lance knew all this, it was hard not to, but never really thought Toad would really pursue a relationship.  
"Give me some time, in the mean time, I hate to put you down but you got to clean yourself up, brush your teeth, take a shower, I'll see what else I can do but until then, work on that." toad groaned, he knew it would be hard but he never cleaned up before, he wondered if he actually could remove some of the stinks that had encoded themselves onto him.

Peter yawned as he picked up the train tickets from the lady at the train station, and walked to the waiting area to meet his friends. He rarely used trains, he preferred web swinging, but it would be a long web swinging trip from Bayville to the Florida Everglades. His thoughts then wandered to Mary Jane. He wished there was something he could have done so that they could have at stayed friends. As he walked over to Angelica and Bobby, Angelica noticed Peters far off look.  
"Peter?" she asked. No response.  
"PETER!"   
"What!" he yelled back in surprise.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Oh, nothing, just lost in thought." Angelica had her suspicions, but wanted to wait till they were alone. She then noticed Bobby making small sculptures out of ice he made from the air around him. Angelica aimed her pointer finger and sent a thin stream of heat over to the sculpture, causing it to melt in his hands.  
"What was that for?" Bobby asked half angrily.  
"We need to travel in secret that means no powers stupid." Angelica said as she playfully kicked him. Peter sat down next to her and sighed.  
"I hope Logan's alright, whatever knocked him out must have been fast, I hope we're fast enough to face it." Peter said as he pulled down his shirt sleeve, to check the web shooter he had counseled there on his wrist. Suddenly there was a sharp tingle in the back of his skull, his spider sense had been activated. He stood up at light speed, scanning the area around them.  
"What's wrong Pete?" Bobby asked.  
"I don't know yet, but I think we're being followed." Peter said as he turned his head slowly, looking hard at each individual person, but not finding the source of the danger.  
"NOW BOARDING FOR #7 EXPRESS TO FLORIDA AT PLATFORM 19." a voice said over the loud speaker.  
"Well, it will have to wait till we get to Florida, let's get goin'." Angelica said as she led the way towards the east platform. They didn't notice three tall figures in trench coats at the other end of the station, watching them intently.  
"This burns my mother board, why couldn't we have gone with Soundwave?" one shadowed figure asked.  
"Because we're the smallest, we're the only ones who can blend with the humans, Frenzy." the second one said.  
"Silence," The shortest one said, "Where are they going?"  
"Florida." Frenzy replied, almost afraid of the question.  
"Good, alert our allies there, then get on the train and follow them, I will meet you there in Florida."  
"Where are you going?"  
"To report to Magneto."

Johnny yawned as he stepped into Bayville High the next morning, he hadn't slept since he had met the Phantom Ranger, and now he was the Phantom Ranger. It was strange, for the first time ever, he had power, he could do so much more now, save so many more lives, these thoughts left him when he walked right unto Rogue, and fell to the ground. He shook his head and looked up to see Rogue sitting on the ground a few feet in front of him.  
"You alright?" She asked in her familiar southern accent.  
"Yeah, just sidetracked." Johnny said as he stood up and helped her to her feet. It looked like Rogue had something on her mind, but said nothing.  
"Are you alright?" He asked back. She was about to say something when the bell rang, showing that they were both late for class.  
"Sh, look, I'll pick you up after school, k?" Johnny asked, and then raced off before hearing an answer. Rogue stood there, feeling somehow defeated by fate.  
"Yea, sure."

Johnny felt like a first rate hole for blowing off Rogue, and it didn't make him feel any better when he saw that she had decided to skip lunch. He groaned as he ordered a burger, and a carton of milk, and looked for a place to sit. He saw many friends, who hadn't seen him come in, then he noticed Fred, the new recruit from the brotherhood's boarding house, sitting alone and eating slowly. Johnny swallowed and walked over to his table and sat down next to him.  
"Hey Freddy, how are things?" Johnny asked as casually as he could.  
"Ok I guess, why are you sitting next to me?" Fred asked back, intrigued.  
"Just looked like you needed friend." Johnny replied as he took a bite out of his burger.  
"Who needs friends." Fred said back, almost angrily.  
"We all need friends, the thing people forget is that you need to treat a friend the way you need to be treated." Johnny replied as he took a sip of milk. Fred looked over at him now, deep in thought.  
"So buddy, you still need a friend, my door isn't the only one that's open, but I think there's something you need to do before anything else." Johnny said, remembering the story the Professor had told him about the little bit of history between Jean and Fred. Fred nodded, and stood up. He wiped the bit of food from his face as he walked over to the larger table that Jean, Scott and many other X-men sat at. Johnny was watching this when he heard a beeping. It was his Phantom Ranger watch. He had to go, but was going to wait until he could explain things to Fred. After a moment, Fred came back, emotions seemed to be racing threw him.  
"Well", Johnny asked.  
"She seemed nice about it, but I don't know what she thinks of me." Johnny smiled.  
"That doesn't matter, you made an effort to be her friend again, right." Fred nodded. "Good, now look, I gotta go, but be good buddy." Johnny said as he wolfed down his burger, guzzled his milk, and raced off. Fred then looked himself over.  
"Maybe I should loose some weight."

Johnny raced into an abandoned hallway and looked down at his blinking watch, two of the blips marked deceptions were moving away from the city, towards Florida.  
"Where the hell are they going?" Johnny asked himself. Suddenly there was a rumble. the building shook and debree fell from the ceiling. Johnny raced outside, as did many other students, and saw the massive robot joyfully demolishing the school. Johnny's eyes widened in shock.  
"Meanasor?" without a second thought, Johnny raced around to find a hidden spot. he slipped back into the school and slipped into a bathroom, and tapped a button on his watch.  
"PHANTOM RANGER POWER NOW!"

The ground shook as the students of Bayville High watched the car shaped monster joyfully attack the school. Suddenly they raced away from the monster, causing it to stop it's assault. The monster looked up, and saw a metallic fist fly into it's face. The monster called Menasor fell to the ground, and looked up at the Turbo Mega Zord. The nearby onlookers cheered as the two monsters did battle. Menasor stood fast and kicked the Mega Zord hard in the midsection, sending the Mega Zord stumbling backwards. Menasor wasted no time, swinging his sword hard into the Zords shoulder, causing a shower of sparks to fly in all directions. Suddenly a massive, black semi truck landed a few yards away, both Menasor and the Mega Zord appeared surprised, then it slowly changed and reformed into a massive black robot, twice as tall as the others. For a moment nothing moved, then the black robot drew a long shining sword, and swung hard and fast at Menasor, giving him such a shock that it caused him to break down into his five smaller parts, four normal sized cars, and a normal sized semi. The five vehicles sped away without a second thought. The Mega Zord stood there, staring at the black robot. Then it saw the small speck moving atop it's head, when the Mega Zord's occupants focused in on the speck, they recognized it as the Phantom Ranger. The Phantom saluted the Mega Zord in front of him, then leapt back into the black robot, then the robot changed back into the gigantic semi and sped away.

Johnny raced from room to room, trying to find any sign of survivors. He was about to give up when he heard a mental message from Professor Xavier.  
"Johnithan, everyone else is out and safe, but Rogue it still missing." Johnny didn't care for that knowledge and started running a little faster from room to room.  
"Rogue!" Johnny called as he jumped into the demolished gym. Suddenly a streak of blue whizzed by him. Johnny stopped to see Quicksilver standing right in front of him.  
"Hiya slowpoke." he said in his accelerated voice.  
"What do you want Maximoff?" Johnny asked angrily.  
"Just delivering a little message from my dad. He wants you in New York tonight, be at the top of the Empire State University's tallest building at midnight tomorrow, come alone or he's gonna start destroying sky scrapers, if your not there, even your Power Ranger buddies won't be able to save the hole city." Johnny's eyes narrowed.  
"What do you have to do with Menasor?" quicksilver grinned.  
"don't matter, see here's the thing, with those new phantom ranger powers or not, your no match for my dad, not with the help he's got, and those robots aren't the only things he's got under his thumb, be at ESU at midnight tomorrow night, or you'll have more trouble than the deceptions." Quicksilver said as he raced off in literally the blink of an eye. Johnny stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. Then he heard a moan, not more than six feet away.  
"Rogue!" Johnny yelled.  
"Here." A voice coughed. Johnny turned left to see a bloody hand, dangling limp from out of the ruble.  
"Oh no."

An hour had past and Johnny found himself sitting in a hospital chair, his head in his hands. it was all he could do to keep from going berserk. He had all this newfound power, all this knowledge on the marvel universe, and what good was it. rouge lay unconscious in a hospital bed a few feet away, not much farther than he was from her when he spotted her in the ruble, and he had no one to blame but himself. He held his head in his hands, hoping Rogue would recover, but the doctor's didn't see any hope in site. He had contemplated it several times in his mind, and could thing of nothing else. So he stood up, walked over to Rogue's weakened lifeless form, took her sleeved arm in his hand, peeled off her glove, and knowing that she'd learn all his secrets including his duel identity of the Phantom Ranger, and held it in both hands. He felt his consciousness slip away into her hand, and just before he past out, he saw Kurt and Kitty teleport into the room and race towards them, but before they could reach them, everything went black.

Rogue sat up fast already realizing what was happening. She turned to Johnny, and struggled to pull her hand away from him, but he had held on with everything he had, until his hands fell to the ground, and lay down limp. Rogue looked up, saw the same look she held reflected in Kurt and Kitty's faces, and she leapt to her feet, yanking off the wires she was plugged into and, having Johnny's strength, slipped Johnny into her arms and laid him down onto her bed, then put her glove back on.  
"Why'd ya'll do that, you need to be in New York tomorrow." she said to Johnny's lifeless body.  
"Vhy dose he have to be in New York tomorrow, Rogue?" Kurt asked. Rogue looked up at him, then took Johnny's overcoat from the hanger on the door and was about to leave, when she stopped, took Johnny's watch and ran out the door.

Rogue was in her room, back at the mansion, packing some last minute things into a duffle bag before throwing it over her shoulder and silently creeping for the window.  
"Were you really just going to leave without saying goodbye?" A voice asked. Rogue turned to see the Professor sitting in front of the open doorway, Johnny at his side, leaning against the doorframe. He took a step into the room, then fell to his hands and knees. Rogue raced over and helped him up.  
"Y'all can't stop me from goin'." she said angrily.  
"I'm afraid we can." Xavier said as he rested his fingertips on his forehead. Johnny gripped the Professors shoulder, stopping him from using his powers.  
"We can but we won't, but I'm going with you, and you know why." Rogue was about to argue with him, but knew he was right.  
"Alright, but y'al in no shape for a fight, so don't forget who's wearing the watch around here." Johnny groaned but nodded.  
"Professor, could you do me a favor and call a Reed Richards in New York, just level with him and he should be willing to help us."

The trip on the train was a long one. The three super human teenagers had gotten a privet seating room in the train and Bobby had quickly fallen asleep. Peter was peering out the window and Angelica was sitting on the bench across from Bobby.  
"Peter?" Angelica asked.  
"Yeah?" Peter asked as he looked down at her.  
"You were thinking about her again, weren't you?" Peter didn't want to answer, he didn't want to hurt anyone else, physically or emotionally. "PETER,"  
"Yeah, I just wish we could have separated without her hating me." Peter said as he sat down next to her. Angelica wrapped her arms around Peter and kissed his cheek.  
"Look Peter, no matter what happens, you didn't do anything wrong." Peter nodded, and Angelica pulled him closer, leaning Peter's head on her chest. "Um, Peter, I need to tell you something." she was about to go on when Bobby started to stir, then sat up.  
"Are we there yet?" Bobby asked.  
"No." Peter said quickly, looking back at Angelica, waiting for what she had to say.  
"I'll tell you later." she said as she stood up and started staring out the window. Peter stood up and started out the door.  
"Where you goin' Pete?" Bobby asked.  
"Just out for a walk." Peter said as he slid the door shut behind him.

Another hour had past and Peter still felt uneasy. Someone had been following them and he wanted to know why, and how was Dr. Conners involved. Suddenly Peter's thoughts shifted to Angelica. What did she want to tell him that she didn't want Bobby to know? Just then he noticed a set of two cassette tapes. He stood there for a moment and wondered what kind of person listened to a cassette instead of a CD, maybe someone who had a small budget. Peter then reached down to pick up the tapes, when his spider-sense went wild. Peter jumped, looking in every direction to find the source of his danger, but the hallway was empty. He shrugged and continued his walk to the room where Bobby and Angelica awaited him, the cassette tapes a million miles away in his mind.

Reed Richards walked into his bedroom, the days stress had taken it's toil and he wanted nothing more than to lay next to his wife and fall asleep. She was already in bed, wearing a light blue night gown, her hair tied up in a bow, wearing a pair of glasses and reading a book. Reed collapsed into bed beside her in a deep sigh. She snickered a bit and set the book down on the nearby counter.  
"What's wrong dear?" she asked.  
"Oh nothing, I'm just incredibly tired." he said as he rolled around and faced his beautiful wife.  
"Then what was that phone call about?" she asked.  
"Well, that was Professor Charles Xavier over in Bayville. He's got two students coming into New York tonight and want our help with something, it's all quite complicated." his wife pulled off her glasses and looked over at her husband.  
"Well dear, I'm sure you'll do everything you can to do what's right, and Ben, Johnny and I are totally behind you." Reed found little comfort in her words, but smiled regardless as he laid down beside her, and fell to sleep.

As the two trench coated individuals exited the train somewhere in Florida, they found themselves standing face to face with the third trench coat who they had left off in Bayville.  
"Change in plans, we are to stop the mutants from going to New York in any way." one of the taller trench coat's snickered.  
"Finally, time for a rumble." He said as he cast off his trench coat to reveal the hard purple metallic body underneath. The other trench coat from the train did the same to reveal a similar body, only red and black. Rumble and Frenzy had revealed themselves. Without warning , their arms re-formed into massive pile drivers, which pounded the ground time after time, creating earthquakes under their feet, causing the bystanders to flee in panic.  
"If this don't get their attention, nothing will." Frenzy yelled joyfully.

Peter, Bobby and Angelica were walking off the train when it began to rock back and forth. Peter looked to the others and gave the silent order they knew to well. Peter slipped into a nearby bathroom, and seconds later, Spider-man emerged. Firestar and Iceman were ready and waiting. They leapt out of the train threw a few windows and spotted Rumble and Frenzy tearing up the ground around them.  
"Take them out, I'm going to make sure no civilians are in harms way." Spider-man said as he shot a line of web onto a support beam and swung off to look for civilians. He eventually found himself on the other side of the train station when his spider-sense went wild, and suddenly the third trench coated man came up from behind and tackled him to the ground. Spider-man shook his head and looked up as the man ripped the coat to shreds to reveal the man from the abandon coliseum, the man with the black costume and veins bulging out at every part of his body. The man reached down and gripped Spider-man's throat in one hand, and picked him up by it.  
"Who...who are you." Spider-man struggled between breathes.  
"I am Kaine, that is all you need to know, brother." the man said as he began to squeeze tighter.  
"Then here's web in your eye." Spider-man said as he fired a glop of webbing into Kaine's face. Kaine screamed and reached for the webbing, causing him to drop Spidey. Spider-man was surprised to see him simply rip the webbing off like it were paper. Spidey then dove into him, throwing a fist into Kaine's jaw, Kaine didn't even flinch. He grabbed Spider-man's arm and twisted it behind his back.  
"Fool Spider-man, you cannot defeat me, I am superior. As superior as Spider-man is to Peter Parker." the words hit Spider-man like a fist to the face. Suddenly from behind they both heard a scream. Kaine turned to see three long claws find their way into his back, causing him to once again drop Spider-man and fall to the ground. Wolverine then helped Spider-man up and the two started running.  
"You killed him." Spider-man said in shock.  
"Not likely." Wolverine replied as they both ran towards Iceman and Firestar's location.

Magneto sat on a small chair in his hotel room looking over the Empire State University campus, debating how far the punishment should for a human boy trying to pass as a mutant, when there was a knock at the door. Magneto stood up and slowly stepped over to the door before he could open the door or even look threw the peep hole, the door floated off its hinges as if by magic, and a massive man stood in the empty doorframe, dressed in blue and gold, with a purple face half hidden in a golden face mask.  
Magneto said nothing, but turned back to the window.  
"What do you want?" he asked.  
"Simply to see how you are progressing." the monster man said as he followed him into the room.  
"I find that unlikely."   
"Strait to the point Magnus very well, the human has become a... concern. His continued involvement may become a problem, I can no longer allow his existence, so you are no longer in total control of the objective." Magneto turned to face the man, his face red.  
"You dare to attempt to control my level of authority, Thanos?"  
"Do you dare to question me?" Thanos replied. Magneto would have attacked Thanos if he were anyone else, but Thanos was to strong, even for him.  
"Very well, who is my...associate?" Thanos stepped sideways and a second man entered the room. Magneto turned around and took the man in. He was tall, dressed in a barbaric like crossbones chest plate, with blue skin, black fingernails, a long purple cape and hood, and holding a long goad headed staff in one hand, but his most distinguishing feature was his face, a yellow, almost glowing skull. Magneto gasped. The skull man merely gave a long loud cackled.

Johnny gave a low moan as he lay in the back seat of the Ladybug. Rogue turned the key and sped off towards New York. After a few hours of silence Johnny finally spoke.  
"Aurora, auto pilot, fly us to New York. search for either the Baxter building or Four Freedoms Plaza." Rogue jumped after listening to Johnny's words, when the wheel started turning by itself. A pair of long metallic wings protruded out and the bug lifted off the ground and into the air. Rogue sighed, remembering from Johnny's memories certain things about the Ladybug she wished she wouldn't keep getting surprised over.  
"So, how y'all feelin?" she asked.  
"Oh, how you did when you were buried under half the building." Johnny said harshly.  
"Ya know that wasn't yer fault."   
"You know full well it was. So what do we do when we get to New York, if Magneto doesn't see me, he's gonna start wrecking the landscape." Rogue thought for a moment.  
"Ah was hopen you would have a plan fer that." Johnny sighed.   
"Splendid."

"And why are we going to New York?" Bobby asked as he, Angelica, Peter and Logan walked away from the two steaming metallic robots that lay defeated in the train station.  
"Did a little recognizance after I called you guys, this she-lizard thing, I got nothing on her, but the guy who sucker punched me calls himself the Jackle. He abducted this scientist named Conners, he would have been dead if not for me I might add, anyway, he said that that lizard thing was stolen teck Jackle took from him, wouldn't give any details. anyway, the guy said Jackle was headed for New York, and that he was working with Magneto." the three teenagers groaned.  
"So how do we get to New York before they do, they're sure to have a head start." Logan gave a small smile.  
"Got it covered, web head." Logan said as he lead them to a nearby alley. As they walked threw the ally, it seemed to widen. At the end of the alley was a sleek, black minichopper.  
"Do we get frequent flyer miles?" Peter asked.

It was when the Ladybug glided over New York airspace when Aurora noticed an unrest in Rogue. When Aurora's holographic image appeared in the passenger seat, Rogue didn't even flinch, partly because she knew of it threw her touching Johnny.  
"Is something wrong?" Aurora asked. Rogue looked into the back seat, making sure Johnny was asleep before speaking.  
"Yeah, I...well it's... how do you tell someone your feelings when you know others hold those same feelings for that person?" Aurora's holographic image nodded in understanding.  
"My programmer knew such questions would come up, and gave me the ability to give my own advice, and my advice to you is to think of how you'd think that person's worst reaction might be, and decide if it would be worth it to tell that person what you'd need to tell them." Rogue sighed. neither of them noticed Johnny's left eye peek open for a brief moment, nor the smirk as the eye closed again.

The roof of the Baxter building seemed empty as the Ladybug landed quietly on it's helipad. Johnny had woken up earlier and the two slowly stepped out of the car, ready for anything. Suddenly there was a loud thud from the other side of the rooftop. Johnny turned in battle stance, Rogue behind him, to see two figures walking out of the shadows. Johnny let his eyes adjust, and instantly recognized them. Johnny stood up strait and held out his hand.  
"Mr. Grimm, Mr. Richards. I'm Johnny Springs. Professor Xavier should have called and told you we were coming. The two figures stepped out of the shadows. The orange, rock skinned rock creature known as Ben Grimm noticed Rogue's shaken look.  
"Why are you here Springs?" Grimm asked.  
"Well, an angry mutant wants my head and I need your help if I'm to keep it, I was told you guys could help."  
"Told by who?" Richards asked."   
whoopsJohnny thought, make someone up Johnny, someone hard to get in touch with.  
"Nick Fury"  
"Wonderful, Fury's been passen around our business card." Grimm said as he walked over to the stairwell door and walked into it.  
"Yes Mr. Springs, we got the Professor's call, he told us everything. We'd be happy to help, what can we do?" Richards asked as he led Rogue and Johnny down the stairwell.  
"Well I had a plan in mind, but we have a day and there's something else I'd like you to work on also if your willing."

Some time had past. Johnny had just woken up from a quick nap so he had time to prepare before Magneto's forced meeting time. He stumbled into the kitchen of the Fantastic Four and on normally would be beside himself by being in the company of the invisible woman and the human torch (who wasn't currently engulfed in flames at this point), but fatigue mixed with stress forced little excitement to show from his face.  
"You must be John Springs." Sue said as she held out her hand. Johnny nodded and took her hand sluggishly.  
"I go by Johnny normally, but I can understand how that can be confusing." Johnny said as he glanced at the torch.  
"Hi, Johnny Storm." the torch said as he shook hands with Johnny Springs.  
"Man, that idiot Jameson has finally ran out of idea's," The orange, rock skinned man named Ben Grimm said as he walked into the kitchen, his head buried in his copy of the Daily Bugle.  
"Let me make you some breakfast." Sue said to Johnny as she walked over to over and went to work on some eggs.  
"Thank you." Johnny said nervously, feeling like an inconvenience.  
"So what is it you don't like about Mr. Jameson, Mr. Grimm?" Johnny asked, hopping he hadn't overstepped his bounders.  
"Well it's like that thing with Spider-man, always bashing away at his good name, now that the old web head disappeared, now he's got to make up really silly garbage, like this story, about reports of a grim reaper on steroids sited on the ESU's campus." Johnny's eyes lit up. He reached over and snatched the paper from Ben and dropped his jaw at the artist's rendering.  
"SKELATOR?"  
"Who?" Johnny storm asked, glancing at the artwork in the paper.  
"Let's just say he's a bad guy, Johnny could you find my friend Rogue, I need to find Reed."

Magneto sat in his hotel room, awaiting his agents to report from their various missions, when there was a ringing from the cell phone. Magneto had to stop himself from using his powers to float the phone across the room, doing so would damage the phone. He stood up, walked over and picked up the phone.  
"Yes."  
"The cassettes were destroyed." The harsh voice said.  
"How!" Magneto asked angrily.  
"Iceman and Firestar." his anger cooled a little, Iceman and Firestar meant Spider-man, and probably Wolverine as well. As long as it wasn't the human, he had no problem with it.  
"Understood, and the deceptions?" Magneto continued.  
"That five piece pile of crap is nothing but scrap metal now, thanks to that human turned Power Ranger." Quicksilver said as he appeared from within a cloud of dust that formed in the blink of and eye from the door. Magneto gritted his teeth, and the room shook as the metal beams that held the building together trembled under his will.  
"And the Jackle?"  
"You rang!" The man in green said as he walked into the room from the open doorway, the she-lizard at his side, her long red hair now moppy and torn and hanging in all directions.  
"Your experiment was a success I gather?" Magneto asked as he stood up and walked over to the she-lizard. the lizard woman stood perfectly still, as if stalking some unseen predator that was unseen to the other occupants of the room.  
"Indeed Magneto, but remember my price."  
"Don't worry Jackle, the spider will die." A voice said from behind them all. The group turned to see Skelator walking into the room.   
"Kaine, return to New York, your services are still in need, as are the deception's."

Johnny springs raced from room to room of the tall tower that was the Baxter building, but could find no sign of rouge. Johnny had come to the final room and torn it apart. He fell to his knees, already knowing the truth. She had gone off to meet Magneto. He had hoped she would have waited until she had heard his plan, but with his injuries as they were, she feared for his safety. He was about to leave in a hurried stumble when Reed stood in the doorway.  
"Who's Skelator?" He asked. Johnny sighed, hopping he wouldn't have to direct the story to much to make it unheard of.  
"He's a demon from another dimension, hell bent of ruling the planet of Eternia, why he's here, I don't know, but he's far worse than anything Magneto can throw at us, literally." Reed stood there for a moment.  
"The plastic hydraulic stabilizer is ready, so is the other item you asked me to work on. If you get that morpher thing back, the stabilizer should still work with it, but no promises." Johnny smiled and shook reed's hand.  
"Thanks, Doc. I really appreciate it." Johnny said as he started to walk towards the roof exit.  
"Are you sure the Fantastic Four can't help you?" Johnny wished they could, but Magneto said to come alone, and feared the worst if Rogue got to ESU before he did.  
"Sorry Reed, I'm on my own on this trip."  
"Good luck then my friend."

Spider-man and Wolverine's search led them to the Empire State University grounds around 11:25 that night. Firestar and Iceman had taken to the air to see what they could find from that angle, while Spidey and Wolverine and took to the treetops, relying on their senses to see what they could find.  
"So how do you know Conners?" Logan asked out of the blue." Spidey stopped in mid swing at the question.  
"How did you know I knew Conners?"  
"The tone in your voice, I hear it a lot in this game. S, how'd you know the guy?" Sidey groaned, reliving the tale in his mind.  
"That lizard chemical stuff, he used it on himself once, in an attempt to make his arm grow again, but it turned him into, well you know. After I found out, met his family, read his notes, I was able to create a vaccine. Once and awhile the lizard would come out of remission and I'd have to come up with a stronger antidote, but he was building up an immunity. I'm glad that Connors wasn't directly involved this time." Logan's head arced suddenly, nose perched into the air, sniffing the wind.  
"I got something..." suddenly Wolverine went sailing skyward, and the man from the train station, and he just stood there, staring at Spider-man.  
"You will not escape me a third time brother." Kaine said angrily as he dove for Spider-man, faster than any advisory Spidey had ever faced before.  
"Who the hell are you and how do you know who I am?" Spider-man asked as he somersaulted away, doing all he could to just keep away from Kaine.  
"Because of who I am, brother." Kaine said as he peeled off the black, fleshy, vein covered mask to reveal a fleshy vein covered face underneath, the face of Peter Parker. Peter stood there, not sure how to take the new information.  
"What is this, some kind of sick joke?"  
"No, I am your clone, take by my father, Miles Warren."  
"WHO IN THE HOLY HELL IT THE MILES WARREN?"  
"My friends call me the Jackle." a voice said from behind. Spider-man was so shaken that his spider-sense didn't warn him in time for the attack from the voice, when he turned all he saw was a man in a green fur, and then everything went black.

Johnny struggled to climb the fire escape that led to the rooftop of the Empire State University science building. He gave a final gasp as he reached the top and pulled himself onto the roof.  
"It's 12:03 human, I was beginning to think you'd never show." an arrogant voice said from above him. Johnny looked up and saw the man in crimson standing over him. Rouge lay unconscious somewhere behind him.  
"NO." Johnny said in shock. Johnny pressed the button on his writs watch and the pain from his injuries was gone. He stood up, causing magneto to step back in shock.  
"No, it's not possible." Magneto said almost in fear.  
"Then I guess I am the impossible you metal maggot!" Johnny said as he flung his fist into Magneto's face. The simple thought of being hit by a human fist was so unheard of to magneto, that it sent him into unconsciousness. Johnny quickly forgot Magneto and raced over to Rogue. Careful not to touch her flesh, he lifted her up in his arms.  
Rogue, Rogue wake up." Johnny begged. that's when Johnny heard it, the shifting of metal on metal, and the crashing of metal footsteps. Was Magneto awake again already? Johnny gently set Rogue back down, took the Phantom morpher from her wrist, and turned to face Starscream. Johnny gave a sinister smile as he lifted the morpher to his mouth.  
"PHANTOM RANGHER POWER!"

"Where is he?" Firestar demanded when she and Bobby returned from scouting the rooftops, to find Logan awaking from unconsciousness.  
"Dunno, vein face blindsided me and must have run off with him." Wolverine said as he shook off the cobwebs.  
"Why would they have taken him?" Bobby asked as he looked around for some sign for where they may have gone.  
"Dunno, but I got bug boy's sent, it won't be too long before you can ask them."

Johnny didn't expect Starscream to be so much trouble, but anyone who could transform into a jet at will and back again could be Johnny thought in retrospect, but even so when he saw his Phantom semi pull up and transform into the formidable fighting robot he had seen earlier, his smile returned. The Phantom Phantom leapt off the rooftop and onto the robot's head. From there he found a small port hole which lead into the Zords cock pit. In seconds the Phantom was ready for the evil jet which was circling the monstrous robot. The Phantom taped a few commands into the consol and in one quick swoop, the giant robot backhanded the jet, forcing it to fall like a slap stick comedy. after watching for a moment to make sure Starescream was down, the Phantom semi Zord picked the jet up in one massive hand, and magneto in the other. Just then the Phantom noticed 5 other Phantoms on the ESU rooftop. In seconds, the Phantom was out of the Zord and onto the rooftop. Five turbo Phantoms stood scouting the area, the pink and yellow Phantom were tending to Rogue, though the pink seemed more interested in the Phantom than in Rogue.  
"Phantom where have you been, we get this message from you that your ship is goin' down and you need help, but when we get there your gone, then you tell us to meet you here?" the Red Phantom asked angrily. The Phantom didn't know what to say but that's when Rogue started to wake up.  
"What's goin' on?" she asked, struggling to look around. The Phantom walked over to her and checked her for injury.  
"It's me, shh." the Phantom whispered to her as he helped her to her feet.  
"Are you alright?" the Yellow Phantom asked.  
"Yeh, just a little drained, my friend Johnny was being forced to meet Magneto up there, but I was able to incapacitate him and come here in his place, then when Magneto and the deception and the others took me down, the Phantom here show'd up and..."  
"Wait, there were others?" the Phantom asked.

Spider-man stirred to life and struggled to move. His eyes opened wearily to see the three creatures standing over him. one was the clone he knew as Kaine, the other was a long red haired she-lizard, the third he didn't know, but suspected by the green furry green physique, that he was the Jackle.  
"Awake at long last Spider-brain." Jackle said sinisterly.  
"Just in time for the party." Suddenly Spider-man felt like he could move, as if some kind of invisible hold over him had been released. Some kind of drug, Spider-man thought. It didn't mater. He leapt to his feet to stare face to face, with himself.  
"Oh boy."

"Spider-man was with them?" the Phantom asked Rogue in half surprise.  
"Yeh, he was unconscious, but alive." "That may help, he carries a lot of tracking devices with him that he uses that are tuned to his spider-sense, is there a way you guys can use that?" the Phantom asked the other Phantoms. The five Phantoms looked at one another.  
"I think I can." the Pink Phantom said as she pulled a small device out from her belt. It looked to the Phantom like a small laptop computer that folded into a gun.  
She tapped the keys quickly and it led her to seven different locations. Three were very close.   
"Okay, Rogue and the Pink Phantom come with me, the rest of you check out these other sources, they may be nothing but I want to be sure." the Phantom ordered. The other Phantoms nodded and leapt from the roof onto the city street below. The Phantom picked up Rogue in both arms and walked to the roof's edge.  
"Are y'all sure ya know what yer doin." she asked.  
"No, but I've seen it on TV a lot." the Phantom joked. Rogue held on tighter as the Phantom leapt from the roof and seconds later landed on the sidewalk. After setting Rogue on her own two feet he held his wrist to his lips.  
"Phantom Cyber Cycle, now."

"I got to admit you look just like me, but your more angry back alley than a friendly neighborhood Spider-man." one Spider-man said to the other.  
"Cute, by the way, who's your buddy in the green fuz?" the other Spider-man asked. Then one Spider-man stopped circling, both deep in thought. The other stood there for a moment, confused by his actions.  
"What are you doing?" the confused one asked.  
"That Kaine guy, I've seen his face, he's my... your...our clone. Does that mean one of us is a clone too?" the Spider-man asked as he pulled off his mask. The other Spider-man stood there dumbfounded, to look in the face of Peter Parker, the face he owned. The other Spider-man pulled his mask off and the shock showed in his eyes.  
"So..." the shocked Parker asked, "Which of us is the real one?" the other Spider-man pulled on his mask.  
"We can figure that out later, together, right now, let's get this over with." Parker nodded and pulled his mask back on. Then the two Spider men faced the Jackel and started climbing the wall. The Jackel just laughed.  
"Kaine, please kill your little brother, my pretty here will take care of the real McCoy." Jackel ordered. Kaine and the she-lizard dove from off the observation deck and attacked the Spider-men.

Rogue and the Phantom Phantom were speeding faster than either had ever gone before. the Phantom glanced at the screen on his cycle to be sure they were going the right way, and with the blip on the screen getting closer and closer, he was sure he was. Just then he saw a streak of fire in the sky above him, followed by a small black chopper..  
"Sh, I hope we get there before they do." the Phantom said as he stepped on the accelerator.  
"Why? The more the merrier." Rogue asked.  
"They don't understand the she-lizard, I had Reed make a cure for her, but if they get to her first, something bad might happen." he forced the accelerator for all it was worth, and sped towards the blip's source.

Jackle was hopping with glee as he watched his creations beating sense into the two spider-men, but shook for a moment when the warehouses ceiling collapsed somewhere in the corner of the building, and then the woman in flames flew threw the wall in the ceiling and floated right for him.  
"Where's Peter you slime!" she demanded. Jackle just smiled and snapped his fingers. The she-lizard was about to deliver a critical blow to one Spider-man, but suddenly turned, forgetting Spider-man, and dove at Firestar. Firestar simply floated away from the creature and fired a blast of microwave heat at her, sending her flying into a wooden support beam, causing the beam to splinter and collapse. Star floated there, waiting for the creature to rise again, when there was a crash from the front door. There in the doorway stood Rogue, Wolverine, Iceman, the pink and Phantom Phantoms. The group surrounded Kaine and Jackle, weapons raised.  
"It's over Warren, surrender." the Phantom ordered. The green furred elf nodded sadly and rose his hands, Kaine did the same. The Phantom then turned to see Firestar and the she-lizard still locked in combat. The Phantom pulled his sidearm and fired it into the air, causing the two to stop for a moment. Then before anyone could do anything, he threw a vial of pink liquid at the she-lizard, the vial shattered over her green, scaly abdomen and torn tank top. The pink goo began to absorb into her body, and the she-lizard screamed in pain. As the other Phantoms raced in, the Pink Phantom and the two Spider-men walked over as the she-lizard started to shrink. Her armor like scales withered into a peach, soft flesh. and the woman, now human, had started crying. Both Spider-men stared at the woman in horror.  
"Mary Jane!" they said together.  
"NO...DON'T LOOK AT ME!" she pleaded threw the river of tears. The Phantom turned back at the Jackle, who just wore a wicked grin.  
"It's


End file.
